Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State?

The big rumor out there is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met yesterday about the Secretary of State job. Andrew Sullivan thinks it's an inspired move:

It is a senior enough position not to be fobbed off; it really does take advantage of the Clinton name abroad; it could even put Bill to good use and keep him out of mischief; and Obama has kept telling us that his cabinet model is "Team Of Rivals." Giving Hillary that kind of position is straight out of Lincoln.

Unlike the vice-presidency, a secretary of state has real constitutionally-designated things to do. From Clinton's point of view, it would be a natural position from which to run to succeed Obama in 2016 (or to make an inside push to oust him in 2012). The emergence of Max Baucus as the front senator for healthcare seems to me a sign that Obama might have already been signaling this maneuver. If Clinton isn't the lead player on healthcare, what is she going to do?

So here's hoping he offers and she accepts. It's an elegant and shrewd move; both public spirited and yet coldly calculating at the same time. Pure Obama.

I mostly agree with Andrew. Obama seems to be following the Lincoln/Kennedy model for building a cabinet where a president puts the best minds possible in a room together and lets them argue it out. (This, of course, is the opposite of the George W. Bush cabinet.)

But I feel unease with putting a Clinton anywhere near the White House for the same reasons I never thought Hillary should be VP: Obama's campaign is about change, and putting a Clinton near the White House is the opposite of change. But in the end, Hillary is a great politician and would probably be a great asset to the Obama administration.